Detection and decoding of a received signal is a task that is performed in every receiver. Thus, there may be a need for efficient detection and efficient decoding. The detector and decoder exist within the context of a channel, be it a communications channel, or a recording channel, or any case where information (bits) are transmitted over a noisy channel. An encoder is needed on the transmitting side to protect the bits from noise and the detector and decoder work on the receiving end to get back the original bits. The context will further become apparent from FIG. 2, like it will be described below.